Friday, October 28, 2011

".... But his view on the Arab uprisings was the most interesting. He seems to disagree with his own media when he asserted that Arab uprisings are not part of a US conspiracy. Hezbollah media, including Al-Manar, have been promoting the silliest conspiratorial scenarios regarding the Arab uprisings. Such scenarios have become popular among advocates of the Syrian regime....

Nasrallah unwittingly distanced himself from his media in his analysis of Arab uprisings. But his analysis of Syria fell short of showing respect for the Syrian people and their legitimate grievances against the regime....The people who are taking to the streets in Syria are not tools of a foreign conspiracy. Also, Nasrallah failed to deliver sympathy to the Syrian people who are opposed to the regime. He failed to convince them that his support for the regime is not insensitive to their plight as a population living under a dictatorship.....There was an opportunity for Nasrallah to express consistent support for Arab uprisings, but he did not. He basically invokes the inconsistency of Western attitudes toward Arab uprisings, as if that justifies the inconsistent attitude by Hezbollah.... (Of course, Hezbollah’s alliance with Shiite sectarian forces in Iraq, including with groups that are part of the local structure of the occupation, and their silence vis-à-vis Sistani’s services to the occupation, can only be explained in sectarian terms.)

Hezbollah has a Syria problem: the traditional esteem that most Syrians held Nasrallah with is now a thing of the past....And Hezbollah, unlike several Iranian leaders, did not comment on the Arab uprisings by making silly arguments that they were inspired by Iran’s revolution.....But when the uprising hit Syria, Hezbollah changed course. Long gone were the cheers and enthusiasm. Suddenly, Hezbollah media started sensing an outside Zionist conspiracy.....But one can’t stand with a dictatorial regime while hoping to win support of the people under its rule."